
GpightF _IL' S 



CfiEmiCHT DEPOSnV 



JUNE DUSK 
FLORENCE NASH 




FLORENCE NASH 



JUNE DUSK 

AND OTHER POEMS 
BY 

FLORENCE NASH 




NEW ^^S^ YORK 
GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 



x.^-^ 









Copyright, 1918, 
By George H. Doran Company 



^" 



Printed in the United States of America 

SEP 16 1918 






TO 

MOTHER AND MARY 

FOR WHOM MY LOVE IS TOO 
BIG TO PUT INTO A POEM 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

SONG OF THE THESPIANS 13 

A COMEDIENNE 15 

THE CALL OF THE ROAD 16 

A PRAYER . 1''' 

LINES TO A DEAD POET 18 

WHEN I AM DEAD . 19 

WHEN THE DUSK-HOUR HERALDS NIGHT . . 20 

A VISION 21 

what the wind finds 22 

a confession of faith . . . . . . 25 

an apology 28 

Peter's smile 29 

to the sun 30 

A LETTER 31 

AT DREAM-LAND INN . 32 

THE WRECK OF DREAMS 34 

AN AFTER THOXJGHT 35 

ODE TO A MUSICIAN ON HIS BIRTHDAY . . 36 

[vii] 



CONTENTS ^ 

PAGE 

PAN FASHIONED YOU 38 

CONCERNING CONJUGATION 39 

A lover's plaint 40 

SHOULD YOU VOW YOUR LOVE FOR ME . . 41 

A REQUEST 4^ 

I LAY AWAKE 43 

I DO NOT BRING YOU ANYTHING .... 44 

MY LOVE THOUGH SMALL IS EXQUISITE . . 45 
I NEVER KNEW THAT LOVE COULD BE LIKE 

THIS 46 

YOUR LOVE HAS GONE 47 

WHY DID YOU SEND ME BACK MY HEART? . 48 

FINALE 49 

ASHES OF INCENSE 50 

I HAVE FORGOTTEN YOU 52 

AFTER A QUARREL 53 

LOVE STOLE MY YOUTH 54 

FOR I WAS BLIND 55 

I FOUND THE GOD OF LITTLE THINGS ... 56 

AN ADIEU 57 

LONELINESS 58 

SOMETIMES AT NIGHT 59 

WHY MUST I LOVE? 60 

I WHISPER TO THE VOICES OF THE DAWN . 61 

[viii] 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

LET ME COME 62 

A LOVE-SONG 63 

GATHER ME CLOSE IN YOUR ARMS ... 64 

BEWILDERED 65 

SINCE I AM FLESH 66 

I FEAR MY HEART GROWS LAME .... 67 

MY worship's over 68 

TO MY IDEAL 69 

CYNTHIA TO ENDYMION 71 

THE YOGI IN THE FOREST 72 

THE TALE OF MOHAMED ALI 73 

EVENING 75 

A MAGDALEN IN THE DESERT 76 

FROM A HOTEL WINDOW 78 

AFTER A CONCERT 79 

A SEA-SHELL 81 

SHAKESPEAREAN SONNETS 82 

I 82 

11 83 

III 84 

IV 85 

THE GODS PROTECTED ME 86 

l' THE MYSTIC MOOD 87 

FLOWER O' YOUTH . 88 

[k] 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

JUNE-DUSK 89 

ALL NIGHT WE WATCHED THE SUNSET . . 90 

THE DUSK RE-CAPTURES YOU 91 

SHOULD YOU SPEAK NOW 92 

A TALE WITH A MORAL 93 

TO A GHOST-MAN 95 

OH, FIE ON me! 96 

MEMORY MY LOVE DOES BORROW .... 97 

YES, DEAR 98 

A POEM WITHOUT A HERO 99 

I AM IN LOVE WITH LOVE 100 

WHEN WE DID KISS FOR THE EMOTIOn's SAKE 101 

THE WEAK'nING STRENGTH OF LOVE . . . 102 

IF YOU WERE DEAD 103 

WITHIN YOUR DULCET EYES OF GREY . . 104 



W 



JUNE DUSK 



JUNE DUSK 



SONG OF THE THESPIANS 

We ministered rites religious 
Ere most modem creeds began 
And our pulpit is agnostic, 
Teaching ev'ry creed to man. 

We have pledged us unto nature 
And no artifice of art 
Have we learned to show the future 
That we mined our pain of heart. 

We^re content to serve our altars; 
Many vestals watch the flame 
Who have sacrificed their beauty 
For a water-written name. 
[13] 



JUNE DUSK 

And beside them, there are many 

Who do serve the temple well 

By a wantonness alluring 

Which brings gold for what they sell. 

You may scoff at us and scorn us 
But you bow to us as gods 
When we sway you with emotions, 
Paying life-force for your sobs. 

And of all the lives we live here 
We may choose the best to keep 
As companion in our coflSn 
Should we dream in our long sleep. 



[14] 



JUNE DUSK 



A COMEDIENNE 



I HAVE no dignity nor claims on art, 
I'm but a clown who capers for awhile, 
And yet I know my humour gift of God 
For, once, mine antics made a sad man smile. 



[15] 



JUNE DUSK 



THE CALL OF THE ROAD 

It's real fall on the one-night stands ; 
It's only colder weather here. 
I'm getting lonely for the road, 
We've played New York a solid year. 

I'd like to take to trains again, 
Now that the country's red and gold, 
I guess we can't get out just yet, 
Not while this standing-room is sold. 

I'd like to see the fields run by 

And watch the farm-house chimney's smoke; 

I'd like to take an early jump 

And see the sunrise for a joke. 



[16] 



JUNE DUSK 



A PRAYER 

God, let me drifting go adown this world 
As now, just wandering in dreams, nor see 
Aught more of passion than what poets' songs 
Have gently voiced unto the soul of me. 



[H] 



JUNE DUSK 



LINES TO A DEAD POET 

Come hold my hand across the space of death, 
Dear, gentle singer whom I read so well, 
Surely mine anguish does inform you now 
Of all that love I had no chance to tell. 

Gather me close within your spirit's arms, 
Soothing my fears with your enchanted hands. 
Whisper some song there was no time to sing 
Before your journey to the shadow-lands. 

Flowers were laid upon your last low bed, 
Soft-petaled violets of dusk-time hue, 
I have no knowledge where your grave may be, 
I only know it has not prisoned you. 

So hold my hand across the space of death. 
Soothing my fears with your enchanted hands. 
Though in this life you knew not of my love. 
Such love must triumph in the shadow-lands. 

[18] 



JUNE DUSK 



WHEN I AM DEAD 

When I am dead, sing me no requiems, 
Chant me no dirges, nor weep for me tears; 
I shall pass over the flesh-chilling border 
Soul singing joyously, empty of fears. 

When I am dead, I shall wander on gleefully, 
Free from this burden of sense-fettered flesh, 
Wander along on the highway Elysian, 
Drunk with the waters of Lethe afresh. 

I shall go fleeting along with the breezes 
Twirling the dust of what erstwhile was I, 
I'll fall in love with the scent of the roses 
Which I shall capture but lose when I sigh. 

When I am dead, I shall wander on merrily 
Timing my feet to the pipe-flutes of Pan, 
Wander along with Dryads and Fairy-folk 
Wander, unseen, in the green haunts of man. 

[19] 



JUNE DUSK 



WHEN THE DUSK-HOUR HERALDS 
NIGHT 

There's a path I love to wander 
When the dusk-hour heralds night 
And the day, earth's vanquished lover, 
Wanders out in rosy light. 

For when day dies, all the flowers 
Seem to change to saddened hue 
And their voices' fragrant incense ' 

Wafts their promise to be true. 

And the wind then moans quite softly 
But with sobbing sound so drear, 
That my soul can guess that message 
Which my senses cannot hear. 



[20] 



JUNE DUSK 



A VISION 

I HAVE seen fairies in the city's park 
When Pan's pipes fluted through the star-lit 
dark. 

Their eyes were luminous forget-me-nots, 
Like lac^ies' blackened with mascara dots. 

Their faces, rose-leaves on a lily-stalk; 
And silver bells chimed when they seemed to 
talk. 

Their little bodies were fantastical — 

I think God made them feeling whimsical. 



[81] 



JUNE DUSK 



WHAT THE WIND FINDS 

Deae Wind, 

What da you find in your journeying? 

What do I find in my journeying? 

Much that is good 

And much that is bad, 

Causes to weep 

And those to be glad. 

Everything, in my journeying, 

I find. 

I see the whole world 

In its beauty and dinginess 

And summer is rich ; 

Winter knows naught of stinginess, 

And she'd grieve that the generous gift of her 

snow 
Was the cause of the death of the flowers 

and so 
'Tis, in autumn, I blow 
[22] 



JUNE DUSK 

And bid them to go 

And stay playing with fairies till spring-winds 

I blow. 
And the birds of the North 
I woo with my voice 
Till they follow me South and, in chirpings 

rejoice, 
At the wondrous new beauty which round them 

does grow. 
To springs and to rivers 
I whisper, and lo! 
With their ice they protect the dear fish from 

the snow 
Which winter, through wisdom, 
On earth does bestow. 
To cool off its summer-learnt passion; 
For 'tis fashion 

In summer, to love with great passion 
Be ye human or beast. 
Be ye flower or bee, 
Or even, alas and alack, 
Be ye me. 

[23] 



JUNE DUSK 

For when summer is come, 

I love the whole world 

For its niceness and naughtiness 

And it loses its haughtiness 

'And wo OS me in manner like this : 

"Oh, Wind, gently purring. 

Be stronger in stirring 

And grant me the boon of thy kiss." 



[24] 



JUNE DUSK 



A CONFESSION OF FAITH 

Unto the question "Wlio created thee?" 
My baby-lips were taught to answer "God." 
And then they taught me what great God was 

like, 
Endowing him with envy, anger, greed. 
And all dread passions that we loathe in man. 
And, now, I know that mingling with my 

prayers 
Were loathing thoughts I feared to recognise 
Because I feared the God of fearsome hell. 
I knew, for me, 'twould not be hell of fire 
But constant wand'ring down a dawn-grey 

waste 
Where steady moaning of a dreary wind 
Filled me with longing for the human-kind 
Of which none were existent, saving me. 
'Twas thus I thought till fear made me rebel 
Against a teaching which could bring such 
pain. 

[25] 



JUNE DUSK 

And then I thought "In death, is end of all." 
But pansies withered and then bloomed again; 
The violets seemed sweeter every spring; 
The rose-bush, which in winter aped decay, 
In June was fragrant with new blossoming; 
And in their beauty they bespoke a God 
Whose mercy touched decay and made new life. 
'Twas when the birds seemed hymning in the 

trees 
That God was intimate and made of love. 
Such revolution burning in my brain 
Was often quenched by thoughts as orthodox 
As "God rules hell and hell knows naught of 

love 
So God, being known there, can't be made of 

love." 
And yet the birds kept hymning just the same; 
The winds kept breathing ghostly worship- 
ping; 
The flowers, in an odoriferous voice, 
Kept praising God and naming him "Great 
Love;" 
[26] 



JUNE DUSK 

And streamlets whispered to their own selves' 

shores 
"He, who created us, directs our course 
And, sometimes, makes us muddy that his love 
May find us dearer when we're clear again;" 
'Twas thus in nature that I heard God's voice 
Bidding me bring my burdens to His feet 
And rest me there while He would make them 

light. 



[«7J 



JUNE DUSK 



AN APOLOGY 

If I did stay too long, 'twas not my fault ; 
For when I entered in, my brain did halt 
To reason and enjoyment crowned as king. 
You charmed me and the pleasure, dear, was 

such 
The passing hours did but lightly touch 
Me, as they passed with folded, silent wing. 
Gave I offence? I would indeed atone 
By any punishment save one alone; 
And that one is my future banishment. 
That one alone I really cannot stand 
So, I do pray you, make not that demand 
Or sin were lesser far than punishment. 



[38] 



JUNE DUSK 



PETER'S SMILE 

Small Peter, with the tender wistful eyes, 
Where did you find a smile so kind and wise? 

Where did a baby learn such winning art? 
But then, you lived, for months, near Mother's 
heart. 

For months, your soul might mingle with her 

own, 
A thing of beauty seen by you alone. 

You heard the inner echoes of her voice 

No wonder that your smile makes God rejoice. 



[29] 



JUNE DUSK 



TO THE SUN 

Sun, when the earth has turned towards thee 

France, 
Bid thy rays seek out Aime, let their warmth 
Seem like the benediction of my love 
Which is so vast no passion could enhance 
Its value in the sight of us or God; 
Whisp€r his friend can sometimes find his soul 
In the oft glamour of thy setting self, 
And in the rosy glory of day's death 
Can find the laughing glory of his soul. 



[30] 



JUNE DUSK 



A LETTER 

Let others kiss your lips. 
Let others hold your hands. 
Just let me have your love ; 
That love which understands 
That hidden 'neath this flesh, 
Which cloaks the soul of me, 
Is one small streak of good 
To last eternity. 



[31] 



JUNE DUSK 



AT DREAM-LAND INN 

Oh, hush! Little Clean Heart, 
Lest you wake your grosser self, 
Wrap yourself in wraithiness, — 
To waste our sleep were sin. 
I have doffed my fleshly cloak 
And in my mental mantle 
I wait, for you to follow me, 
At Dream-land Inn. 
We can hire the minstrel. Wind, 
To sing us songs of Arcady 
Or wander into Cricket Hall 
And hear the fairies jazz; 
We can charter moon-beams 
To sail upon the sea of sky, 
Or listen to the scented speech 
That every flower has. 
We can hear the shiv'ring leaves 
Telling tales of burglaries, 
[32] 



JUNE DUSK 

Columbine just ran away 

With Pierrot's heart; 

We can wander, hand in hand, 

Through some shadow meadow-land 

Till the dawn of day-time wakes 

Our thoughts apart. 



[83] 



JUNE DUSK 



THE WRECK OF DREAMS 

Peechance you too are looking at the clouds 
And telling your new loved one what each 

seems ; 
To me, they seem like driftwood made of down, 
A flimsy texture but the wreck of dreams. 



[34] 



JUNE DUSK 



AN AFTER THOUGHT 

My love brought nothing, dear, at all to you 

But, unto me, a cleansing fire 

Moulding desire 

Into aspirations higher 

Than I had known without my love for you. 

For, though you've gone from out my life. 

Your memory has led the strife 

Against the baser elements in me. 

I can't explain love's wizardry 

But I'll love you eternally. 



[35] 



JUNE DUSK 



ODE TO A MUSICIAN ON HIS 
BIRTHDAY 

Were I that mystical unknown thing, Fate, 
On this, your birth-day, I should grant to you 
Emotions to be tuned to melodies ; 
For your past sins, I'd grant you penitence 
And the shamed memory that they were sweet 
So that your art, in minor cadences, 
Might show that j oy is stronger than one's will. 
And for your good deeds, I should grant you 

pride 
That joyous pagans might on men impress 
That good has beauty in the major key; 
And for your future, I should grant your soul 
Its every wish, then let it wish for more 
Lest surfeiture should your sweet soul-songs 

duU; 
And for your masterpiece, I'd grant you love. 
Love all complete yet incomplete because 
[36] 



JUNE DUSK 

No soul on earth could quite absorb it all; 
It should be variant in mood that you 
Might find a theme in every single kiss, 
Abandoned and ascetic, each in turn. 
Should claim a melody from out your brain 
And jealous thoughts discordant crashes make 
Till men cried out, "His music voices pain 
Such as the damned must feel if there be heU." 
Then an ecstatic wonderment of bliss, 
In sighing strains, should tender finish make. 

And after I had granted you those gifts. 
Were I that mystical unknown thing. Fate, 
I selfishly should grant a simple theme 
Suggested by a few fond thoughts of me. 



[37] 



JUNE DUSK 



PAN FASHIONED YOU 

I THINK the god who fashioned you was Pan 
And that he mixed the springtime's sunniness 
With the grave moods of little elfin folk 
To find your smile its merry wistfulness. 



[38] 



JUNE DUSK 



CONCERNING CONJUGATION 

When I did go ta school, 
I thought it such a bore 
To learn to conjugate 
The verbs love and adore. 
And since I've met you, dear, 
I know 'twas waste of time 
For tenses have they none 
Save that of present time. 
And they have but one form 
I can affirm as true, 
'Tis that which does express 
My feelings, dear, for you. 



[39] 



JUNE DUSK 



A LOVER'S PLAINT 

Peetty light, dancing around the sun, 
Tell me how many kisses youVe won 
From the sun. 

Pretty shore, guarding yon little lake, 
Tell me how many kisses you take 
From the lake. 

Pretty star, nestling near to the moon. 
How many times have you had that boon 
From the moon? 

How many kisses you all have won! 
Whereas I, poor soul, I have won none 
From "Some one." 



[40] 



JUNE DUSK 



SHOULD YOU VOW YOUR LOVE FOR ME 

Would that I knew some god or fay 
To whisper to your heart to love me ; 
For should you vow your love for me, 
Eternally, dear one, you'd love me. 

For I should love you in such way 
That my love never should grow boring; 
'Twould first be sad, and then be gay. 
But, always, it would be adoring. 

And when our lips should meet to kiss, 
My kisses, dear, should be quite many 
But of so many difTrent kinds 
You'd never have enough of any. 

My love should be the poet's dream, 
That's too elusive for expression, 
But I should tell it, dear, to you 
In wordless way of sweet confession. 

[41] 



JTUNE DUSK 



A REQUEST 

I PRAY you give me back my heart, 
Since you have Jiearts a-plenty, 
I should not like to feel it break 
At some odd years and twenty. 

Yet, it is such a little thing 
And worn so weak with weeping, 
I know 'twould die were it moved now 
So hold it in your keeping. 

But, by whatever gods you have 
I humbly do implore you 
Be kind and lie and humour it 
Since it does so adore you. 



[42] 



JUNE DUg 



I LAY AWAKE 

For yester eve you made some show of love, 
I lay awake throughout the entire night 
And wove me dreams out of mine ecstasy, 
Ecstasy free from sensual delight. 



[43] 



JiUNE DUSK 



I DO NOT BRING YOU ANYTHING 

I DO not bring you anything, 
I've only come to get 
A little hour of your life 
Which I shall not forget. 

Which I shall not forget, my sweet. 
So prithee do be kind, 
Plant kisses, like forget-me-notsi, 
To bloom within my mind. 

Plant kisses like forget-me-nots, 
And little roses too. 
Warm kisses that shall bloom beside 
Sad separation's rue. 



[44] 



JUNE DUSK 



MY LOVE THOUGH SMALL IS 
EXQUISITE 

My love, though small, is exquisite 
And very pure. That's requisite! 

My love, though pure, is passionate 
So towards me be compassionate. 

Lean down your lips — but gingerly! 
Kiss me — but only tenderly. 



[45] 



JUNE DUSK 



I NEVER KNEW THAT LOVE COULD 
BE LIKE THIS 

I NEVER knew that lave could be like this ; 
That I could sit, alone, and know your kiss 
Was on another's lips and never care 
But be contented that my own sweet share 
Of you was mine and, kissing, was aware 
Of something helpless that you missed in this 
Embrace so learned in the school of bliss. 



[46] 



JUNE DUSK 



YOUR LOVE HAS GONE 

YouE love has gone — gone somewhere with 
your smile, 

Gone from your eyes, and from your lips 
astray, 

Gone from your speech, and from your hand- 
clasp too; 

And my sweet bliss has turned to dull dismay. 



[47] 



JUNE DUSK 



WHY DID YOU SEND ME BACK MY 
HEART? 

Why did you send me back my heart? 
I have no place to put it now ; 
My breast is nourishing a dream, 
A little dream with placid brow. 

A dream that's small as pure things are 

But O ! so very, very sweet, 

I bow mind head, in ecstasy, 

And kiss my small dream's baby-feet. 

And must I put that dream aside 
And gather up mine heart instead? 
My little dream has been so bright 
My heart will seem a thing that's dead. 



[48] 



JUNE DUSK 



FINALE 

Never again, however we endeavour, 
Shall you or I find any love like ours ; 
When we were young we wove it out of fancy 
Nor broidered it with passion's purple hours. 
We were content with Rapture's pastel 

shadings. 
Fed love on sunsets or a poet's line, 
Held hands and wept at Pagliacci's ending — 
The comedy that's ended now is mine. 



[49] 



JUNE DUSK 



ASHES OF INCENSE 

My heart holdeth naught but the ashes of in.'- 

cense 
Wherewith I made fires for your shrine; 
And you, who were erstwhile mine idol and 

worshipped 
With rapture ecstatic and fine. 
Had found the indelible proof of my loving 
Grow purer and finer with time. 

For mine was no passion of sensual longing 

But something poetic and rare. 

I brought you my soul and I laid it before you, 

I stripped every inch of it bare; 

I showed you the dreams that I wove me of 

fancy, 
You fashioned each dream, unaware. 

I likened your soul to the breath of the roses, 
I pictured your heart as divine; 
[50] 



JUNE DUSK 



I gave all the best of my life to a worship 

That wearied you out in due time. 

Mine idol withdrew then though friendship was 

left me. 
Pale ashes are cold things, but mine. 



[51] 



JUNE DUSK 



I HAVE FORGOTTEN YOU 

I HAVE forgotten you 

And all the time I gave 

To thinking of you 

I now save 

To think of spring and little things 

Like lilies, roses, sunsets, tunes. 

The humming sounds of angels' wings 

And poets' sadness told in runes. 

I have forgotten you 

And all the time I gave 

To loving of you 

I now save 

To weep for things that cannot live 

Like bliss we weave from dreaming's strands, 

The understanding love can give 

And God's gifts held within our hands. 



[52] 



JUNE DUSK 



AFTER A QUARREL 

I HAVE found my strength and your weakness 
In this rupture between us twain. 
To you, 'twas a nettle of anger 
While to me 'twas a flower of pain. 

And I found this joy in my sadness; 
To my love, 'twas a pure white flame 
That melted the dross from the metal 
And has made it all god-like again. 



[53] 



JUNE DUSK 



LOVE STOLE MY YOUTH 

Love, which was bom within my breast, 
Did steal my youth, to build her nest. 
And wakened me from sleeping. 

Then one, who loved my bird's soft nest. 
Stole bird and nest from out my breast 
But sent the bird back weeping. 

Her cries are mournful in my breast 
And, from them, I shall have no rest 
Till, in death's arms, I'm sleeping. 



[54] 



JUNE DUSK 



FOR I WAS BLIND 

Because you saw my love and knew me blind, 
You lied to me. Ah, lying that was kin<i ! 
For though I pay your kiss with all my years, 
I am not poor who have so many tears. 



[55] 



JUNE DUSK 



I FOUND THE GOD OF LITTLE THINGS 

Lo, I found the god of fairies and the little 

things of spring 
And he gurgled at my burden and 'twas 

changed into a string, 
Which hung upon my loving's lute, could tune 

the saddest thing 
Into a song of all that joy which now has taken 

wing. 



[66] 



JUNE DUSK 



AN ADIEU 

My love for you is such a spirit thing 
I need not hold your hands nor kiss your lips 
Nor even watch the soul-signs of your eyes 
To keep it living and not mem'ried thing. 
My soul can find your spirit in the skies, 
In scented breeze, wind-wafted from a rose, 
In cadences of soft tuned melodies. 
In all there is seductive and yet pure. 
Therefore, beloved one, I can leave you now 
And, in the doing so, bespeak my love 
Which is so vast it has no human bonds. 
If, in some future time, a slight caress 
Seems wind-imprinted on your soft sweet cheek, 
'Twill be my spirit on the wind conveyed 
To whisper that I live and love you yet. 



[57] 



JUNE DUSK 



LONELINESS 

Hour after hour went by 
Till time knew change o' day 
And Love seemed just a cruel thing 
Which used our hearts for play, 
But whispered softly "Time 
Though fools these mortals be 
To let me hurt them, surely they 
Feel pain exquisitely." 



[58] 



JUNE DUSK 



SOMETIMES AT NIGHT 

Sometimes at night, beloved one, I long 
Enwrapped within your slender arms to lie ; 
Passively, purely; as an infant might 
Save for the stifled breathing of some sigh. 



[59] 



JUNE DUSK 



WHY MUST I LOVE? 

Why must I love 

When all my love does bring 

Is sorrowing 

And wistful hopes that wing 

Their way to you adown the hush of night? 

For my poor hopes 

And all the love they bring 

Find your heart ice 

And come back perishing 

With cold and pain before the day grows light. 



[60] 



JUNE DUSK 



I WHISPER TO THE VOICES OF THE 
DAWN 

Beloved one, I whisper to the voices of the 

dawn 
To hie them forth and harry you until you hear 

the song 
Of mingled hope and moumfulness I always 

hear at dawn 
Because another day has come and lonely 

nights are long. 



[61] 



JUNE DUSK 



LET ME COME 

Even if it should bore you, let me come 
And spend a little hour at your side 
For I should turn those minutes into dreams 
And parentage of dreams should bring you 
pride. 

Even though it annoy you, let me come 
And whisper out my burden once again ; 
For, hearing it, I know you'd kiss me and 
I'd realise the poetry of pain. 



[62] 



JUNE DUSK 



A LOVE-SONG 

Love, make some sign that you did hear me 

pray; 
Gently caress me with soft love-blurred eyes, 
Or touch mine hands with your live finger-tips 
And I shall feed my dreams upon my sighs. 
Or, which were best, pray let me, as of yore. 
Kiss your. soft throat just where the pulses 

throb 
And all night long they'll pulse upon my lips 
Tni lonely dawn does wake me with a sob. 



[63] 



JUNE DUSK 



GATHER ME CLOSE IN YOUR ARMS 

Gather me close in your arms, oh my sweet, 
And shelter my head on your breast 
For I've loved you long, with a bitter pain, 
And my constancy crieth for rest. 

Shelter my head on your breast, oh my sweet, 
And bend down your lips to my brow ; 
For I've waited long for your sweet soft kiss 
And my patience is perishing now. 

Bend down your Hps to my brow, oh my sweet, 
And I'll lift my lips unto thine, 
For I've thirsted long, with enfevered lips, 
For your mouth and its amourous wine. 



[64] 



JUNE DUSK 



BEWILDERED 

I NEVER felt SO far from you 
As when you held me in your arms 
And I awoke to mine own self, 
Roused by my pulses' mad alarms. 

I never felt so self-engrossed 
As when your kiss fell on my lips 
And I grew fevered as one must 
Who Aphrodite's poison sips. 

I never felt your soul so pure 
But when, to save me from myself, 
I clung to you with all my strength 
I woke your body to itself. 



[65] 



JUNE DUSK 



SINCE I AM FLESH 

I LOVE your spirit yet, since I am flesh, 
Between your soul and mine there ever stands 
The outer semblance of your inner self 
To rouse my senses with most sweet commands. 

I love your eyes when love's glance softens 

them 
Until they seem deep pools of Hjebe's wine 
Whereof mine eyes drink tiU my soul is drunk 
And all my flesh leans achingly towards thine. 

I love your hands when love's touch wakens 

them 
Until they seem a vibrant torch of flame 
Whereto my pulse leaps till my blood's an fire 
And I become divinely mad again. 



[66] 



JUNE DUSK 



I FEAR MY HEART GROWS LAME 

Dear, place jour hand to steady my poor heart 
That runs so fast I fear me 'twill grow lame, 
But let no word, beloved, from our lips, 
Delay the hour from turning into flame. 

And place your mouth adjacent to my lips 
That when love's flame consumes me with mad 

thirst 
From that dear goblet, filled with lover's wine, 
I may drink deep without beseeching first. 



[67] 



JUNE DUSK 



MY WORSHIP'S OVER 

My worship's over but the whole world seems 
An empty thing whereof all joy is spent. 
Oh cruel fate ! Why were you not content 
To let mine eyes stay bandaged with their 
dreams ? 



[68] 



JUNE DUSK 



TO MY IDEAL 

Art thou some stranger whom I have not seen 
Or do I meet thee whilst thy face is masked? 
When shall I know thee? Where, my love, and 

how? 
It matters not for it shall come to pass 
As our wise destinies have ordered it. 
We may be atoms in Nirvana then; 
But, sweet, I should prefer it here and now 
For till I meet thee, all things lead to thee; 
And having known thee, nothing more shall be. 

Sometimes, in gazing eyes, I see thy look; 
Sometimes, in handclasps, I divine thy touch ; 
And one there was who borrowed thy soft 

speech 
And used thine accents for his whispered lies. 
For though mine ears have never heard thy 

voice 
My soul can sense it in the tuneful wind ; 

[69] 



JUNE DUSK 

And though I have not looked into thine eyes 
I sometimes see them high up in the skies, 
Wee wisps of blue which bid me cherish thee — 
And yet, for all I know, thine eyes are brown — 
Though I have never seen thy lips, my love, 
In the night's silence I have felt their kiss. 
But when I sought to kiss them they were gone. 
And yet, I shall not come with mouth unkissed. 
But each kiss lost has made my lips more sweet 
For each kiss spent has bought them lure of 
love. 



[70] 



JUNE DUSK 



CYNTHIA TO ENDYMION 

Thy wish, thy wish ! 

I would that it were granted 

And thy dear arms 

Did tightly me enclose. 

I would our lips in love's sweet kiss were meet- 
ing 

And all our throbbing pulses madly beating 

Unto the god-like ecstasy of love, 

And that our sighs, now lengthy and now fleet- 
ing, 

Were, in love's fashion, wordlessly entreating 

For still more kisses so replete with love. 



[71] 



JUNE DUSK 



THE YOGI IN THE FOREST 

Great universal Spirit, man-named God, 

I bow, in pride and great humility, 

Who am a part of all, which is Thyself. 

My pride is this, that I am part of Thee 

Though but the slightest atom of Thy might. 

Mine humbleness has root in this sad fact, 

I am impure therefore material. 

Let thy great mightiness assist me, now, 

To cleanse me of impurities and flaws; 

Let the corruption, which encases me, 

Depart from me and, in a vile decay. 

Resolve itself into a nothingness 

Which shall be all since it shall be Thyself. 



[TO] 



JUNE DUSK 



THE TALE OF MOHAMED ALI 

Sharp, hellish torments agonise his soul 
For his torn heart has under it that bowl 
Whereon is written, in a raging flame, 
"I catch your blood and fate flings back the 

same 
Into your heart to ooze out, drop by drop. 
For death not always comes when life does 

stop." 

So he whose life has stopped, lives on; a man 
Living in hell ; for only there one can 
Endure the torments which do wrack his frame 
Which loved her so yet never once the same 
Shall lie beside her, in a lover's way. 
From sunset till the night pales into day. 

Yes, longing now lies in his arms, once filled 
With her soft body whose love-pulses thrilled 
To a divine, ecstatic, passioned beat 

[73] 



JUNE DUSK 

The while their souls did journey forth and 

meet. 
So, lonely now, he muses on her hair 
And wonders whoso lies entangled there. 



fT4] 



JUNE DUSK 



EVENING 

Dying, the day sank on a couch of dusk 
And clouds did lower curtains, 'gainst the sun, 
Of rosy gauze, then darker velvet ones ; 
Gently, the trees spread over her who slept 
A fairy covering of filmy lace 
Which vandal night destroyed the while I 
watched. 

Sighing, the wind brought scent of fragrant 

musk 
To that vast chamber, curtained from the sun; 
Nor lit by moon-lamp nor the starry ones. 
Gently, the breeze pronounced that nature wept 
(A summer showering fell on my face) 
For day found rest eternal while I watched. 



[•75] 



JUNE DUSK 



A MAGDALEN IN THE DESERT 

Sometimes, within this desert gloom so dense, 
The naked beauty of my soft young limbs 
And rose-tipped blossoms of my budding 

breasts 
Do hypnotise mine eyes till mem'ry's gaze 
Doth look upon a sinful softer time 
When all my senses slowly swooned beneath 
The evil unction of caressing hands. 

Is it my fault that memory doth live 
Rousing my senses wide awake again 
Until in shudd'ring shivers of delight 
They cause dead moments to revivify? 
Not mine the fault, who mortify my flesh 
Until I weep at its disfigurement. 
But that of all those lovers in my past 
Who loved my body till their strength was 

spent. 
For I had many lovers in that past 
[76] 



JUNE DUSK 

And some were subtle masters of delight 

Who thought me mistress of the art of love 

The whilst we loved throughout an entire night. 

The colours of the sunset do recall 

The rose-tinged silken cushions of my couch 

Whereon in snowy nudity I lay 

Priestess well-versed in Aphrodite's rites. 

And at that altar, many devotees 

Did bow them down and worship her with me. 

Now Aphrodite lies unpedestaled, 
Her altars stripped, by conscience, of delight 
But I, who was her priestess, recollect 
The soft erotic beauties of her shrine. 



[77] 



JUNE DUSK 



FROM A HOTEL WINDOW 

Though late the hour, far below, 
I see lone, straggling women yet 
Upon the pavement, cold and wet, 
Parading sex that's fallen low. 

And men there are who stop and buy 
That tainted draught to quench the thirst 
Of lust, and give their manhood first 
To those who sell to passers-by. 

For these will sell, while one will buy, 
To gain their daily tithe of bread. 
Poor fallen sisters. Better dead 
Than slaves to lusts of passers-by. 

Was it for this that Jesus died? 
That Buddha fasted while he sought 
The law of Karma? Which he taught — 
Vain hope to save the crucified. 

[78] 



JUNE DUSK 



AFTER A CONCERT 

I HAVE gone, sadly, through this dreary world 

Searching, assiduously, all the way 

To find a soul which did idealise ; 

I searched afar, on by-paths as on roads, 

But, natheless, never did my searching find 

Aught save some souls I had idealised. 

And I grew weary and my soul cried out, 

"Must all this searching simply go to find 

The bitter meaning of futility?" 

Just then your music stole within my soul 

Voicing out dreams I dared not dream to 

have 
Because so difF'rent from the common trend 
Of thoughts which throng the brains of com- 
mon men. 
Yes, all the tender moodiness of one. 
Who dreams of things he cannot hope to be, 
Seemed, in your music, to proclaim itself. 

[79] 



JUNE DUSK 

Did your soul journey through a million years 

To gain the knowledge — to yourself be true 

Though you should lie to every other one — ? 

And did it know a myriad of loves 

Before it learned that love must always end? 

And did it worship many difF'rent gods 

Before it learned God creature of one's brain 

As high or low as was one's worship's name? 

Did your soul show its beauty unto men 

Who jeered at it because from them estranged, 

As poets' souls are from the souls of men, 

That you do hide it now in seeming shame? 

Is it because you've reached great spirit-height 

And find it is too lonely to be bliss, 

That in your sobbing soul there dormant, lies 

The force to love in an abandoned way? 

Or do strange voices from the land of Dis 

Wantonly woo you to strange ecstasies? 

I feel you've had the courage to proceed 
Along that path, whose borders are insane, 
Until you've found the ending of those thoughts 
Which I have left in chaos, to my shame. 
[80] 



JUNE DUSK 



A SEA-SHELL 

Born of some passion hidden in the sea, 

My life is love which only lives in song. 

I croon a dirge throughout the whole night long 

Nor, at the dawning, ceases threnody 

Save when my lover. Wind, breathes themes to 

me. 
When he moans low he woos me from the song 
Of sterile love-life and does make me long 
To reach life's end when he shall mate with me. 

Yet, like a lute, I do betray the wind 

And sing my song of purest ecstasy 

Beneath the spell of a caressing touch 

From one who hears my singing and has mind 

To see my singing's inmost secrecy 

Is a vain hope which to my heart I clutch. 



[81] 



JUNE DUSK 



SHAKESPEAREAN SONNETS 



I COME to thee with tale which I'll now tell 
Unto the soul I envy most on earth 
For ev'ry one who knows thee knows as well 
That love for thee in ev'ry heart has birth; 
Thine eyes unsearchable, whose wondrous hues 
Are like a glimpse of heaven before death, 
Do, from our hearts, our loves exact as dues 
To God for thine annuity of breath. 
I come to thee to tell my tale of woe 
In hopes thy mercy may enlighten me 
By showing me the spirit that doth glow 
Behind those love-compelling eyes I see. 

Ah ! should you show me what that spirit is 
In aping it I might then conquer his. 



[82] 



JUNE DUSK 



II 

He is my love for whose love I do long 
But other things than longing purchase love 
So sometimes do I whisper, "God it's wrong 
Not to direct our longings from above." 
And yet, I would not have my love for him 
Be God-directed to another man. 
No, for it is my poor life's sweetest whim 
To think that win his love, some day, I can. 
Sometimes, from dreaming, wake I with a start 
And realise what sorrow waiting is 
When one is waiting with a longing heart 
For some sweet love-sign that shall come from 
him. 
Therefore I come to thee and beg thee tell 
What I may do to save me from this hell. 



[83] 



JUNE DUSK 



m 



One time, I knew his heart was filled with love 
For one so difF'rent from the mould of me 
That I cried to my soul, in rage of love, 
"If it must be why need mine eyes to see?" 
I went along with nails clenched in my palm 
Yet people, seeing the gay smile I wore 
Did swear I never had known one love's qualm 
Whereas my soul was suff'ring from a score. 
But in the night, when prying eyes were closed, 
My smile was lost in agonised frown 
And if, perchance, in sleep my body dozed 
My spirit went to Hers and bowed it down. 
For his loved one was hated holy thing 
To whom my soul did rueful worship bring. 



[84] 



JUNE DUSK 



IV 



Thou canst not picture to thy soul I know 
How one may love where love is wanted not 
Yet in such love a beauty great doth grow 
Which others that are happy loves have not. 
It has a sweetness only pain can give, 
Which is like a great minor-written tone; 
It only asks the right to be let live 
And cherish its desire some place, alone. 
It only seeks the right to hide its life 
In some sequestered nook where naught can 

come 
To show it that it is a hopeless strife 
To try to drown, with hope, fate's hateful hum. 
And yet, one hope another hope does bring 
Which hopes my hope to bliss doth prelude 
sing. 



[85] 



JUNE DUSK 



THE GODS PROTECTED ME 

Pshaw! I had bartered my common-sense 
(And that's the best of me) 
For a foolish love that was not worth while 
But the gods protected me. 
And yet, there are times when I almost wish 
That the gods had neglected me. 



[86] 



JUNE DUSK 



I' THE MYSTIC MOOD 

Through the mists o' doom, 

I hear the fate-bells pealing, 

Calling me to worship 

On the still cold height. 

Aye, I hear the fate-bells pealing 

Through the mists o' doom, revealing 

A visioning in loneliness 

That fills my soul with fright. 



[87] 



JUNE DUSK 



FLOWER O' YOUTH 

Flower o' youth, shall I fling you away 
And sit me down in a corner to pray ? 
Nor sip of your perfume while I may ? 
Flower o' youth, shall I do that? Say. 

"Flower o' youth, is like flowers of May, 
They are cheap to get till they wilt away. 
But sniffs o' their perfume and 'twill stay 
To bloom in your heart when life grows grey.' 



[88] 



JUNE DUSK 



JUNE-DUSK 

Your eyelids trembled for some pulsing thing 
Of subtle sin vibrated In your eyes, 
And all your breaths were gathering In sighs 
Which seemed to gasp, "Let ecstasy begin," 
You stooped to kiss me — Was it strength of 

soul 
That tinged your lips with icy innocence 
Or was it flower of experience ? — 
I never knew more exquisite a sin. 



[89] 



JUNE DUSK 



ALL NIGHT WE WATCHED THE 
SUNSET 

All night long you were close to me 
And we watched the sunset and heard the sea 
And you held my hand till my senses blurred 
Into the light for the dawn had stirred. 

All Sunrise poured its light on me 
But I closed mine eyes and I still could see 
Your eyes as they flooded with passion's light 
And the night burned out in a fire less bright. 



[90] 



JUNE DUSK 



THE DUSK RE-CAPTURES YOU 

Love, ev'ry day the dusk re-captures you 
And that dim room wherein you sat so still — 
Without one movement, save where throbbing 

pulse 
Made your throat's anguish stronger than your 

will. 

That will which prisoned sin within our eyes 
And fed our lips with unassuaged desire 
But made my soul-sin damnable 
Because our bodies' purity was so entire. 



[91] 



JUNE DUSK 



SHOULD YOU SPEAK NOW 

Should you speak now, i' faith 'twere very truth 
To state she has no feelings to be hurt. 
For my heart broke and all my soul grew numb 
To think you knew my love and mocked at it. 
You knew your will, though volatile, was mine 
And that mine actions were controlled by it ; 
That sometimes, when I longed to kiss your 

mouth, 
I did not dare so much as touch your hand 
For my sworn love was really love itself 
And sought your pleasure not mine own de- 
light. 
You knew my heart gave all it had to give 
Of love that had not perished sorrowing, 
And that my soul gave all it had to give 
Of holiness and of its power to sin. 
So, when you mocked my painful passiveness 
And all the depth of longing it contained 
My rage flared up and, in a blaze of hate. 
Consumed my love and left my feelings dead. 
[92] 



JUNE DUSK 



A TALE WITH A MORAL 

I HEARD it said stage-folks were naughty 
And that their manner, which was haughty, 
Was merely scorn for folks' opinions 
And that of vice they were the minions ; 
That they loved lobster, wine and whisky. 
And 'mongst themselves were very frisky ; 
In fact, of morals that they had none — 
The prudish way for saying "had fun." 

Miss Sapphic Kiss, in whose support I 
First trod the boards, gained great renown by 
A kiss which really made her famous 
Because the clergy cried, "You shame us." 
And people said, "She has no morals." 
And 'mongst her leading men are quarrels 
As to just which one knows the huge bliss 
Of getting her most-highly-damned kiss. 

[93] 



w.i> » iir j " "t^ M» ' ' r " ■» ■ « H! ' " '-J- "• 



•v.- ..... ■ -^ 



JUNE DUSK 

She read old Chaucer for diversion, 
For cigarettes, expressed aversion 
As likewise, for all wine and whisky 
And people who were classed as frisky. 

And lobsters? Why, she never ate them 
(Although as backers doesn't hate them) 
She wore no jewels, only coral, 
Most ladies do, when strictly moral. 

Knowing that somewhere lay a moral, 
I asked Miss Kiss, with question oral, 
How it came that she, stage-reprobate, 
Should, in private life, be so sedate. 
Unto that question so bromidic 
Miss Kiss made answer— 'twas specific — 
"You'll grant my murder-scenes imagined. 
Then why not love-scenes though impassioned .f*" 



[94] 



JUNE DUSK 



TO A GHOST-MAN 

I THINK it is a sorry thing 

We did not die in fact 

Who then might wander with the dead, 

Unconscious of each act, 

Because the dead have never talked; 

Death's ennui taught them tact. 



[96] 



JUNE DUSK 



OH, FIE ON ME ! 

When I was young, with chuckling glee, 
I read such things ! oh, fie on me ! 

I read Boccacio to discover 
The things that Byron failed t'uncover. 
And joyed in their descriptions graphic 
Of love-scenes that were^ — not phlegmatic. 

I read old Horace nor was haughty 
Because his morals were so naughty. 
I knew the ancients weren't seraphic. 
They say the ladies' odes were — Sapphic. 

Yes, I found classics most magnetic, 
I read them and became^ — esthetic ; 
But here my tale becomes pathetic, 
I've since that time become ascetic. 

And so I say, "Oh, fie on me. 
To read such things with chuckling glee!" 
[96] 



JUNE DUSK 



MEMORY MY LOVE DOES BORROW 

I LOVE to-day but to-morrow 
Memory my love does borrow, 
Oblivion does steal it after that; 
And I know, much to my sorrow, 
Such will be the case to-morrow 
For constancy with me has never sat. 



[97] 



JUNE DUSK 



YES, DEAR 

And hast thou loved 
Before this love for me? 

Yes, dear, I've loved 

And each love was a school 

Whereat I learned a touch, 

A sweet caress. 

Some subtle gift of bliss 

With which to win 

And hold thy love to me. 

Should one be loved 

If ou^ love ceased to be? 

Numbers be loved, 
And thy love be a school 
Whereat I learned much ; 
A sweet caress. 
And wherein I did miss, 
When I did win, 
To hold a love to me. 
[98] 



JUNE DUSK 



A POEM WITHOUT A HERO 

Most poets, when they write, extoll a hero 
But my chaste muse prefers to chant a lady. 
The reason that my muse has given is 
That ladies' lives are free from aught that's 

shady. 
What? For applause, you think that state- 
ment sung! 
No 'tisn't that. My muse is pure — and young. 
Oh, gentle reader, prithee do read on 
Perhaps my muse may change her ways anon. 

Now poets, when they write, evolve a pet style 
And mine, though still in stage that's embry- 
onic. 
Must, to the reader who does know such things, 
Proclaim itself as something soon Byronic. 
But style and heroine are all I've got 
I lack a hero so you lose a lot. 
For Byron's style was not like Nelly Glynn's 
Which writes in dots when interest begins. 

[99] 



JUNE DUSK 



I AM IN LOVE WITH LOVE 

I AM in love with love, not thee, 
So soon thy kiss will bore me 
And hastily from thee I'll flee. 
Who seemingly adore thee; 
For I'm in love with love, not thee, 
And soon thy kiss will bore me. 



[100] 



JUNE DUSK 



WHEN WE DID KISS FOR THE 
EMOTION'S SAKE 

I DID not love you 

Neither did you me 

When we did kiss, for the emotion's sake, 

One idle moment of an idler day. 

I did not love you 

But that kiss, in me, 

Did all the passions of great love awake 

And they have bided with me to this day. 

But though I love you, 

I can't let you see 

For I'm a woman with my pride at stake 

And pride's road lies a. silent, saddened way. 



[101] 



JUNE DUSK 



THE WEAK'NING STRENGTH OF LOVE 

If but my mind could take the tangled skein 
Of thought made from the threads of my life's 

deeds, 
And by unraveling, convert it to 
An ordered sequence where now chaos leads, 
I'd write a poem for thine eyes to read 
Which would convey the weak'ning strength of 

love^ 
For aU my deeds since my heart went to thee 
Are actioned thoughts with, somewhere in them, 

love. 



[102] 



JUNE DUSK 



IF YOU WERE DEAD 

Dear, Love, if you were dead, 

I should not mourn for you; 

But, selfishly, would deem it again 

That death, for you, had knowledge wrought 

Of my great love for you. 

Since the dear dead must surely know 

And, understanding, whisper low 

Their pity for a love unsought. 



[103] 



JUNE DUSK 



WITHIN YOUR DULCET EYES OF GREY 

Within your dulcet eyes of grey 

A million little poems play 

And most of them are blithe and gay ; 

But 'twas a little pensive fay 

That made me stoop, that other day, 

And kiss your eyes in wistful way. 



[104] 



